


Battle Lines

by CrimeAlley1048



Category: Batfamily - Fandom, Batman (Comics), Batman and Robin (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-14 01:49:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7147205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimeAlley1048/pseuds/CrimeAlley1048
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Letting Damian play with younger kids might have been a mistake</p>
            </blockquote>





	Battle Lines

“Is Bruce in here?” Tim figured he might be— Bruce spent a lot of time in the children’s wing of Wayne Enterprises. There were a dozen or so kids in daycare most weekdays, and Bruce liked to hang out.

  
Hell, Tim liked to hang out too. They had nice snacks, and he’d known most of the kids since they were toddlers. And sometimes naps were mandatory.

  
“Conference call,” Damian told him. (For someone who claimed to hate naps, snackfood, kids, and humanity in general, Damian also spent a lot of time in the children’s wing.) “I don’t know where.”

  
He went back to what he was doing, which was arranging a set of pewter soldiers into a complex model of a battlefield, presumably for the benefit of the preschooler sitting next to him.

  
“What’s this?”

  
“The Battle of Issus, 333 BC.”

  
“Right, obviously.” Tim decided he was curious, so he settled down on the mats to watch. Damian finished his model; he pulled a marker from the art table and used it as a pointer.

  
“Okay. This is the Macedonian army, outnumbered but in the better tactical position, south of the Pinarus River. Their leader is Alexander the Great. And this—” He pointed to his enemy line. “—is the Achaemenid Empire. They’re about to lose.”

  
Damian tapped his marker on the Macedonian right. “This is the companion calvary, Alexander’s elite force, and they—” he cut off when he noticed his pupil digging in the toy bin, clearly distracted. The kid came up with a battered Transformer, which he set behind Damian’s lines.

  
“Elliot. Alexander did not have robots.”

  
“But,” said Tim, rummaging through the box himself, “did he have wizards?” He pulled a bearded magician out of the tub and held it up for Damian to see.

  
“You know he didn’t.”

  
Tim passed the wizard to Elliot. “But what if he did?”

  
“Drake.”

  
“How would that go?”

  
“ _Drake_.”

  
“Abracadabra, Alexander!” Elliot yelled, gleefully smashing through Damian’s entire left flank.

  
“Damn it, Drake.” Damian sighed in frustration— not quite the rise Tim was hoping for, but still something. He dropped Elliot’s discarded robot back into the box.

  
“I don’t know what you were expecting,” Tim told him. “Elliot’s four. He’s too young for— what is this— military history?”

  
“He was doing fine before you showed up.” Damian started to re-erect his soldiers, but he gave it up after Elliot came in for a second pass. “Which is typical, isn’t it?”

  
“Good one.”

  
“Thank you.” Damian crossed his arms. “Fine. I’ll bite. When is he supposed to learn this kind of thing?”

  
“High school? Maybe never.”

  
“That can’t be right.”

  
“Have I ever lied to you?”

  
“Frequently.” Damian rolled his eyes. “I’m getting a second opinion.”

  
“I’ll wait.”

  
Damian checked the room for potential allies. “Thomas?” he called over his shoulder, “You learned military strategy as a kid, right?”

  
Duke looked up from the book he was reading to a pair of kindergardeners. “Just you, man.”

  
“Told you.” Tim fished a bag of plastic ninja from the toy box and arranged them pointedly into a row. “How are you still surprised by this kind of thing?”

  
Damian glared at him. “Okay, first of all? I’m not a— hold on a second. Elliot!”

  
Elliot froze with a large, plastic dinosaur held aloft over the battlefield. He drew it sheepishly back to his chest. “Sorry.”

  
“Not in the calvary wing,” Damian told him. “You’ll scare the horses.”

  
“Here?” Elliot pointed to the front of the phalanx.

  
“Yes.”

  
“RAWR.”

  
“Aim for his center.” Damian turned back to Tim. “Anyway. Why are you still talking to me? I thought we had an agreement about unnecessary contact.”

  
They did, so Tim let the conversation drop. The two of them watched Elliot plow through another two dozen soldiers.

  
“So…” Damian pulled one of the ninja out of line and set it in the palm of his hand. “What would an age-appropriate activity look like?”

  
Tim pointed at Elliot, kneeling between the battle lines with a dinosaur in one hand and a wizard in the other, making dinosaur noises as he knocked through the opposing phalanx. “I think that’s about right, actually.”

  
“Oh.”

  
“You’re doing a good job.”

  
“Wait. What?”

  
“Damian?” Elliot tugged tentatively at Damian’s sleeve.

  
“Yes?”

  
“Can I put the wizard on top of the dinosaur? He wants to cast a spell on the king, but he can’t find him from down low.”

  
Damian nodded. “That’s a good plan. Once you eliminate their king, the Persian army will crumble.”

  
“Eliminate their king,” Elliot repeated. “What’s his name?”

  
“Darius III.”

  
“Got it.”

  
“Good use of resources,” Tim told him. He held up his hand for a high five. Elliot grinned, slapped the hand, and went back to his army. Damian went back to glaring.

  
Tim tossed his ninja into their bag. “See? That was cool of you.”

  
“Drake, are you feeling okay?”

  
“I think you’re doing really well.”

  
“Are you injured? Are you dying?”

  
“You’re not listening to me at all, are you?”

  
“I’ve waited so long for this moment.”

  
Tim sighed. “I regret this conversation.” Of course he did. Why exactly did he think engaging with Damian was a good idea? It had never worked before. Whatever. He might as well finish it out.

  
“I just think it’s nice that you want to teach the little kids.”

  
“I. Am. _Not_ —” Damian stuffed the last ninja away. “—Nice.”

  
“Sure, Damian. Look, I’m just saying? It’s been a few years. You can probably drop the act now. I promise— if you admit you care about other people, it won’t give me delusions. I’ll still know you hate me.”

  
Damian’s eyes narrowed. Without looking away from Tim, he reached sideways and flicked the wizard off the top of Elliot’s dinosaur.

  
“Correct.”

  
“Okay,” Tim decided. “Good talk.”

  
“Mr. Wayne says you’re not allowed to fight,” Elliot reminded them. He offered Tim the wizard. “Do you want to be Alexander?”

  
“That’s kind of Damian’s thing,” Tim told him. “Sorry, Elliot— I need to find Bruce. I’ll see you later.”

  
“Does Damian have to leave? He said he would draw me a dragon.”

  
“I stay if he goes,” Damian muttered.

  
“He’s staying.” Tim got up to go. “But hey, dragons sound like fun.”


End file.
